FULLERTON, Calif. -- The Vanguard softball team ended Golden State Athletic Conference play against Hope International Tuesday and while game one was close, the Lions dropped both contests. HIU yanked a win away from VU, erasing a 2-0 lead to win 3-2, following that up with a 9-0 win in five innings. The Lions will end the conference season at 22-26 overall and 11-13 in the league. HIU goes to 35-10 overall and 18-6 in the GSAC.
What Happened? The Blue and Gold held the edge over the first four innings in the opening bout. Noni Chaves started the game off with a single and Karly Colenzo blasted a double to put two on with no outs. Kaylie Williams brought home one on a fly out to right and Emma Noble would do the same two batters later, as the Lions left the top of the first ahead 2-0.
Brianna Williams took to the circle and allowed only one hit through four innings, as she continued her shutout streak of the Royals from the opening game between the two, which VU won 2-0. However, the Royals had other ideas on their senior day. A walk to start the bottom of the fifth was soon followed by a single, a double, and another single to flip the scoreboard to a 3-2 lead in Hope's favor. The Lions went down in order the next two frames to come up on the wrong end of the 3-2 score.
Vanguard had two runs on three hits and left four runners on base. HIU had three runs, four hits, one error, and also left four runners aboard. Colenzo had two of the VU hits and Brianna Williams had three strikeouts and two walks in seven innings. The VU starter falls to 13-10 on the season.
The second game went south after the first inning. Both sides had one hit in the first, with Colenzo rocketing another double, but no runs came home. The Royals started the scoring in the bottom of the second against LeeAnne Miranda and knocked her out of the game in the bottom of the third. A leadoff home run saw Vanessa Robles enter the fray but neither she nor Mia Portillo could halt the attack, as the Royals led 6-0 after three innings. The home side put up three more runs in the bottom of the fourth and the bats remained quiet for the Lions, who fell 9-0 after the completion of top of the fifth.
HIU scored nine runs on 13 hits and left seven runners on base. The Lions again collected only three hits and left all three runners aboard. Miranda gets tagged for the loss, falling to 5-5 on the year. Tiffany Pope and Ashley Klopfenstein had the other two hits for the Lions in the second half of the doubleheader.
What's Next? Vanguard will play Antelope Valley for senior day on Friday, starting at noon.
